Most Powerful Women in British TV: Olivia Colman, Mary Berry and Clare Balding Top Radio Times List

Olivia Colman topped the Radio Times list of the most powerful women in British television and radio(Getty)

Peep Show and Broadchurch star Olivia Colman, Great British Bake Off judge Mary Berry and BBC presenter Clare Balding have been named the top three most influential women in television and radio, in a "power list" published by the Radio Times.

The magazine said a "revolution" in television had taken place, with "more and more British women dominating the screens and airwaves both on and off screen".

Sheridan Smith, who plays Cilla Black in ITV's biopic, and Sarah Lancashire who featured in the BBC drama Last Tango in Halifax, also appear on the list.

Graham, who chaired the panel that drew up the list, said women were moving on from playing victims in crime dramas and paving the way for gender equality in the future of television.

"A revolution has been rumbling quietly in the background and it's now reached the foreground as clever, talented and formidable women prove that our gender provides much more than disposable props," she said, adding that Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly will co-host Strictly Come Dancing in autumn.

"Yes, two women hosting one of the biggest shows on television, all by themselves! The fact that this is such a big deal in 2014 shows just how pitifully slowly television has reacted to the seismic changes in wider society," Graham said.

Writers on the list include Heidi Thomas, who wrote and produced the 2010 revival of the British television drama Upstairs, Downstairs and received the Writers' Guild of Great Britain award for Best TV Series for Cranford. Abi Morgan, whose work on Shame earned her a Bafta Award for Outstanding British Film nomination, came in at 18th place.